Hello there, I've been trying to learn Japanese for while now but just the Hirigana and the Katakana and a few words... And lucky enough I came across this site. loads of information I hope one day I can watch my anime RAW and goto Japan and speak to the people there.

Well thought I would say hello to everyone... but i do have one question if anyone can help. In my book and on the site it says わたしは=watashi wa but the symbol for "waわ" looks like "haは" to me... am i going mad is it ha but sounds like wa.. or being stupid by missing something.

Hope someone can clear this up for me, as I have been going mad about this for a while and no one i know that speaks Japanese( probably cos most English people are to lazy to learn any language let alone Japanese:D.)

はじめましてWastedさん. In Japanese わ Is Pronounced Wa But In Some Cases は Is Pronounced Wa. Normally It Is Pronounced Ha. Hope That Helps, Good Question Tho It Reminded Me I Need To Go Study About That And When は Is Pronounced Wa.

Goals:
1) Have decent proficiency in Japanese, enough to get around/talk/read/write.
2) Visit Japan for a week or so one summer.